Jan Stelovsky

How do we read algorithms? A case study

The authors report on an experiment that explored the way subjects view an algorithm, written in Pascal, and the graphical representation of its behavior. They designed the experiment to examine the influence of programming experience on how subjects view a short but complex algorithm, and they analyzed the scan patterns of eye movement for subjects at two experience levels. They describe the experimental procedure in detail, and discuss the results. An important finding was that all subjects needed numerous fixations in most areas of the algorithm and spent more time viewing relevant slide areas than did subjects in studies using simple text. This supports the hypothesis that viewing strategies for algorithms differ from those for prose.<<ETX>>

Highly configurable software architecture framework for acquisition and visualization of biometric data

The research in augmented cognition and its practical applications rely heavily on the acquisition and evaluation of biometrics data. We propose software architecture that offers unified approach to the integration of emerging hardware and evaluation technologies. In this paper we focus on the software layers that combine the data events and offer visual representations of the results. In particular, we show that the common evaluation of the collected data as well as the commonly used graphical depictions of the results can be achieved using a fully modular and extendible software architecture.